A message from the General Chapter Delegates of the North American Territory

February 25, 2014

To the Legionaries of the
North American Territory

Dear brother priests, religious in formation and
novices,

The light and strength of the Holy Spirit has accompanied
us during these past two months spent here in Rome
participating in the Extraordinary General Chapter. Your daily prayers have
accompanied us as we engaged in the fundamental tasks of
the Chapter: the review and approval of the revised text
of the Constitutions of the Legion of Christ and the
election of the new general government for the coming six
years. We want to sincerely thank you and so many
others for your prayerful support.

Each of you has been very
much in our minds and hearts, grateful for your witness
and your willingness to follow Christ during what have been
very challenging times since the last General Chapter. We approached
our painful past, the review of the Constitutions and the
ensuing discussions thinking of all of you, our brothers in
the Lord and in the Legion. You have been a
living part of the Chapter. As King David spent time
gathering and storing the best raw materials so that his
son Solomon could build the House of the Lord, our
hope has been to provide in the revised Constitutions and
Chapter documents those materials that can help us authentically live
out the gift of our charism in our religious consecration
and priestly ministry. This was the very desire that drove
the review of the Constitutions on a community level over
the past years and imbued the spirit of our Territorial
Assembly last summer. We, the delegates to the Chapter, hope
to have responded with diligence to the trust that you
placed in us.

The Chapter began as an invitation to look
deeply into our own souls recognizing our personal and institutional
failings. We sought forgiveness and reconciliation. This purification allowed us
to enter the mystery of our history, experience the merciful
love of the Sacred Heart of Christ, and rediscover the
beauty and transforming power of our foundational charism alive in
each Legionary and approved by the Church.

Fraternal charity and sincere
brotherhood, along with a frank, sincere and respectful dialogue, helped
us to understand that even in the diversity of experiences
and opinions there is a strong bond that unites us,
stemming from our vocation and our love for the Legion
and our mission. We recognize the need and common desire
to continue to learn from each other and support each
other through mutual understanding.

The closing of the Chapter is also
a new beginning. We now have in our hands the
Constitutions that have been presented to the Holy See for
approval, as well as the Chapter documents, which analyze our
past, reflect on our present and map out a path
for the future. We encourage all to prayerfully study these
documents, discuss them in community, and make them a guiding
light in our ongoing renewal. As Chapter delegates we plan
to visit within the coming weeks each community to share
with you Chapter experiences and be available for any questions
you may have.

We look forward to our territorial gathering after
Easter, where in a simple family spirit we hope to
deepen our encounter with the Risen Lord who has called
us to be with him, to experience his love, and
to send us out sharing his mission of forming apostles.